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One of the reasons The Black Phone stands out among horror movies today is because it blends a couple of different horror genres into one. Other films have managed to mash up what would have been a typical slasher flick with supernatural elements. However, as well-reviewed as the Ethan Hawke flick is, some of the ideas behind the story draw from other media.

That doesn't mean that The Black Phone wasn't quite enjoyable. It just means that audience goers that enjoyed what the movie had to offer have some other films they can also sink their teeth into from the safety and security of their homes. As it turns out, it's not even all that new for a horror movie that centers around child abduction to include an intriguing supernatural twist like The Black Phone does.

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It

The Black Phone It

It has long been one of the most beloved horror books around, thanks to Stephen King's unabashed willingness to put children right in the center of danger. Pennywise the clown has scarred generations of readers with the depiction of the monster that first likes to torment its victims with horrible visions before eventually gobbling them up. While there was a TV miniseries in the 1980s based on It, two new movies launched in the last couple of years have updated the horror tale with better special effects and an even creepier Pennywise.

While It isn't, strictly speaking, about child abduction so much about the murder and dismemberment of a town's population by a monstrous entity, this movie has a lot in common with The Black Phone. One such link is the fact that the authors of the stories the films were based on are related. The Black Phone's Joe Hill is the son of It's Stephen King. The fact that kids are the eventual heroes of the story is similar as well.

Stir Of Echoes

The Black Phone Stir Of Echoes

In Stir of Echoes, Kevin Bacon plays the happy father of a young family who suddenly becomes haunted by some sort of ghost in his house. Over the course of the film, his wife and son become a bit worried that Bacon's character is simply losing his mind, but he knows it's something much more. By the midway point of the film, it becomes obvious that a ghost girl (played by a young Jennifer Morrison) is communicating with him from beyond the grave about where her body is buried and how she died.

If that doesn't sound familiar, it should also be pointed out that when she first goes missing, Morrison's character is reported missing and there's a hunt underway in town to try and figure out just where she went. If the killer had been sort of slasher like The Grabber, then the movie would be near a carbon copy. As it is, Stir of Echoes is one of the better horror films that has been lost to the trash can of history. Bacon plays a good man who is nearing the edge of his sanity, and finding what happened to Morrison is a truly sad climactic moment.

Split

The Black Phone Split

The M. Night Shyamalan-helmed Split was an interesting film, because it was actually a sequel 16 years in the making. While continuing the story of Bruce Willis and his superhero character somewhat, the film mostly centered on a serial killer that would kidnap young girls and then play a kind of game with them until the biggest of the big bad personalities showed up. There are some big differences between this film and The Black Phone, especially since the audience really gets to meet and to know the serial killer putting young women in danger. However, there is a certain vibe that both movies definitely give off.

There is also the fact that eventually, Split centers more on one young woman freeing herself, rather than having to sit and wait for the police to come. She does get some help at the very end, but the idea of a young person getting herself out of a jam sounds quite a bit like the plot of The Black Phone.

The Shining

The Shining The Black Phone

The Shining is one of the greatest horror films of all time, and one of the absolute spookiest Stephen King stories ever written. While the original film wasn't all that close to the book, there is still plenty in this movie that could make people feel as though they are watching some kind of offshoot of The Black Phone.

Of course, one of the biggest differences in The Shining is that while there are indeed child ghosts, they aren't exactly helpful, and it sure doesn't seem as though they are trying to help the kid who is still alive. In fact, instead of trying to help him out of the bad situation, it appears they'd rather he were dead. Still, the whole "ghosts talking to the living in a perilous situation" makes the film feel similar.

Doctor Sleep

Doctor Sleep The Black Phone

The long-awaited sequel to The Shining, Doctor Sleep is quite a bit closer to The Black Phone than its predecessor. This time around, King wrote about a group of monster-people that are all about taking and killing young kids in order to fit their own nefarious needs. There's also the fact that these particular monsters are fought off by a young girl who has special powers, including the fact that she can talk to dead people and see ghosts.

There's no telephone in Doctor Sleep that she uses to communicate with people, but the film's main character might as well be Finney and Gwen rolled into one package. While there is an adult that does help along the way, it turns out that he's the kid from the first film, and it's also very clear by the end that while he does help, it's Abra Stone that is really the person that is able to take down the Big Bad. In that, the film does feel a bit like The Black Phone.

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